Nigeria is so hard that the last time I checked, nearly 100,000 people had expressed interest in Lollah’s video. And only God knows how many are taking other similar videos seriously.

On Tuesday, a video of the President’s convoy went viral on social media platforms. Someone took the trouble to do some counting and informed the world that no less than 109 vehicles were involved. I haven’t seen any rebuttal from the Villa, so I assume that it’s true.

I’ve always been fairly unambitious and selectively lazy. My mother wanted me to go to one of the two most elite universities (Oxford and Cambridge) in the United Kingdom, where I grew up. And, if I say so myself, I certainly possessed the brains to make her happy and make it to either of these […]

Last week, I wrote about “The Five Stages of Grief”, a theory about the emotional journeys humans go through when they are grieving. The theory was invented by Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a Swiss American psychiatrist, and usually refers to people who are facing death or have lost loved ones. But it can also be applied […]

By Donu Kogbara Dr Elisabeth Kubler- Ross (1926-2004) was an eminent Swiss American psychiatrist who first introduced a theory titled: “The 5 Stages of Grief” in a 1969 book titled On Death And Dying. The five distinct stages she highlighted were: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Kubler-Ross originally based this theory on her observations […]

By Donu Kogbara THREE men who are extremely dear to me and belong to three different generations celebrated their birthdays yesterday, May 25. One is my darling son, Oliver Poage Suage Midgley, who turned 28. His name reflects his mixed English and Ogoni heritage. He doesn’t like me writing or talking about him because his […]

By Donu Kogbara ON May 5, Professor Mark Nwagwu visited the University of Ibadan, UI, to beef up his already formidable academic credentials. He registered for a PhD in anthropology. Astonishingly, May 5 was his 86th birthday. Yes, EIGHTY SIXTH! UI is Nwagwu’s alma mater. He studied there as a youngster. He was a professor […]

By Donu Kogbara Last week, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey became the Project Coordinator of HYPREP, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, which is supervised by the Federal Ministry of Environment. HYPREP was established to achieve the following objectives in my part of Rivers State – Ogoniland – and other impacted communities: •determine the scope, means and modalities […]

By Donu Kogbara LAST Monday, a book titled Osinbajo Strides: Defining Moments Of An Innovative Leader was launched by the PYO (Professor Yemi Osinbajo) Collective, a nonpartisan, multicultural group of Nigerians. I wrote one of the 25 tributes therein and, in my essay, described myself as a member of the Osinbajo fan club and said that […]

By Donu Kogbara SO, his time as Number Two Citizen is almost up and 25 writers have compiled a book of tributes. Its title is “Osinbajo Strikes: Defining Moments Of An Innovative Leader.” The foreword was authored by former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar. The launch ceremony – which will take place on Monday, May […]

By Donu Kogbara LAST week, I mentioned a former deputy governor of Lagos State, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu, who wants to renounce her citizenship and move abroad because of Tinubu’s emergence as the President-elect. Bode George, a former military governor and veteran politician, has for the same reason, also expressed a desire to emigrate. It is […]

By Donu Kogbara AS far as many Nigerians are concerned, Wole Soyinka, our globally renowned Nobel Laureate and most venerable man of letters, seriously undermined his reputation when he launched a verbal assault on Datti Baba-Ahmed, Peter Obi’s running mate. Baba-Ahmed had, on a Channels Television programme that was screened in March, expressed the view […]

By Donu Kogbara I ALWAYS feel melancholy on Good Friday because it is an extremely painful date in the Christian calendar – the day on which my Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and subjected to unimaginable anguish. Today, I am experiencing immense sadness for an additional reason, being that I cannot get Nigeria’s tragic underbelly […]

By Donu Kogbara NIGERIAN elections are globally notorious. Disgraceful norms include violence, ballot-snatching, tribalistic and religiously bigoted hate speech, intimidation (including ridiculous witchcraft threats to terrify the gullible and superstitious), underage voting, multiple thumb-printing by individuals, fraudulent amendment of results sheets and bribery of Electoral Commission and security personnel. But some states are a lot […]

By Donu Kogbara RECENT events remind me of a contradictory saying I first heard as a child: “Be careful what you wish for because you might get it.” The English nun – a teacher at my convent school – who directed this warning at me credited it to an ancient Chinese sage who was, she […]